Straight-edge or darby



(No Model.)

B. MOORE.

V STRAIGHT EDGE 0R DARBY.

No. 400.590. Patented Apr. 2, 18 89.

UNITED STATES PATENT OF ICE.

EUGENE MOORE, OF NORTH PLAINFIELD, NEW ERSEY.

STRAIG HT- EDG E O R DARBY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 400,590, dated April 2, 1889.

Application filed February 9, 1889. Serial No. 299 3l8| (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EUGENE MOORE, of North Plainfield, in the county of Somerset and State ofNew Jersey, have invented an Improvement in Masons Straight=Edges or Darbies, of which the following is a specification.

The straight-edges or darbies heretofore made use of are of wood, and they become saturated with the moisture of the plaster, and the plaster sticks to them to such an extent that the first coat is liable to be slipped upon the lath in running the darby over the surface of the mortar, and this is injurious, as breaking the clinch in the mortar. Besides this the edge of the darby is liable to leave the surface of the mortar uneven and rough, so that the finishing coats of mortar have to be unnecessarily thick.

My invention relates to the masons straightedge or darby as an article of manufacture; and my improvement consists in the combination,with the wooden darby and its handles, of a plate of metal extending partially across the surface of the darby and forming a trowel for smoothing themortar and consolidating the same without the roughening action of the ordinary wooden darby, so that the mason,

. after having put on a coat of mortar in the ordinary manner, applies the darby with its surface at an inclination to the plane of the mortar, and the metal edge serves to finish and level the mortar perfectly in a manner simi lar to a trowel, after which the darby can be used with the wooden edge against the mortar sufficiently to roughen the surface in order that the next coat of plaster may more firmly adhere. I find, practically, that this tool enables the mason to accomplish better work and to do it more rapidly than by the tools heretofore employed, and the tool itself is more durableand less liable to become untrue at its edge, and it is also available as a long thin trowel for finishing up the surface coat of plastering at thewainscoting and in the angles of rooms, where the ordinary trowel would not insure a perfectly-straight line.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the darby, and Fig. 2 is a cross-sec= tion in larger size of my improvement.

The wooden straightedge A is provided at its back with the two handles B B, as usual, and the plate of metal 0 is fastened to the surface of the straight=edge A, such surface being by preference recessed, so that the surface of wood and the surface of the metallic strip are in the same plane, and the edge3 of the sheet-metal strip is bent backwardly, so that the surface is rounding. This makes the metallic strip more durable and stiffer, and it also prevents the sharp edge of the strip of metal coming into direct contact with the mortar or plaster. The nails or screws by which the strip of metal G is attached to the wooden straightedge are to be countersunk and smooth with the surface of the sheet metal.

The mode of use and the advantages of my improvement will be apparent from the foregoing statements.

I do not claim, broadly, a straight-edge armed with a plate or strip of metal, as I am aware that measuring-rules have been constructed in this manner; but they are not adapted to the use to which this tool is put.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination, in a masons darby or straight-edge, of the wooden strip A, handles B, fastened to the back thereof, and the metallic strip C, attached upon the surface of the darby and forming one edge thereof, substantially as set forth.

2. The wooden straight-edge A, having the handles B projecting at the back thereof, and the metallic strip 0, having one edge bent backwardly to form a rounding surface, and the strip of metal attached to the wooden straight-edge, the whole forming an improved masons darby, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 4th day of February, A. D. 1889.

EUGENE MOORE.

Witnesses:

F. 0. SMITH, J. V. WHITLOOK. 

